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Friday, October 30, 2009

It was the year 1315 when a Jesuit missionary visiting a Ethiopian monastery witnessed an astonishing event. An object streaked across the sky and struck the earth only a few kilometers away. In the morning he and several of the local monks headed out to where they believed the object impacted. What they found was both frightening and amazing. All around was bright metal and debris of unknown origin. They began gathering and cataloging the items carefully collecting even the smallest of items; believing them to be some sort of heavenly chariot, or perhaps a seraphim’s wheel. All the items collected were packed and began their long journey to the Holy See. Nearly two months later they arrived at the Vatican, where they were examined by the Cardinal Librarian; he pronounced them the “chariot of a fallen angel, destroyed by God.” As such they were locked away in the archives and were forgotten.

Over 600 years later Giovanni Mateba a friar with the Swiss Guard’s Weapons Priory, was going over the archives’ records searching for items that may aid in the war effort. When he stumbled on the ledger entry for the receipt of “items fallen from heaven.” Mateba had only recently learned of the crash of an alien craft in America, and began wondering about these “items from heaven.” A series of crates buried under 600 years of other crates was like trying to find a specific needle in a needle stack, but after nearly a year of searching he located the items labeled “Diabolus Quadriga,” loosely translated it means the devil’s four horse chariot. Mateba had all of the items sent to the priory; then the research began.

After months of exhaustive research most of the crates contents turned out to be useless scraps of metal; except one. An item tagged “lathe,” most likely because it slightly resembled the woodworker’s tool, was found intact and soon discovered to be some sort of “electrical device.” After a few more weeks of research Mateba had finally developed the priory’s first working directed energy weapon, “The Lathe of Heaven.” While this may not have been its original purpose, now it is a new weapon against the Reich.

Briefing: The Lathe of Heaven

The Lathe is a alien directed energy weapon mounted in a wooden stock, and configured for use like a rifle. The weapon functions by emitting a “beam” of highly charged cold plasma, the plasma its self is not dangerous but acts as a conductor for a massive amount of electrical energy. The plasma is “contained” in a magnetic field untill impact with a target. After impact the field is dissipated nearly instantly, and the plasma “blooms” out to a radius of approximately 1.5 meters; releasing all of its electrical charge in mere milliseconds. This has the effect of causing severe injury to the primary target and lesser but still serious injury to nearby subjects. Also a the electromagnetic shock caused by the plasma bloom will damage and disable most nearby electrical devices.

The only draw back to the Lathe is what has been termed “electrometric recoil,” when the weapon discharges a small amount of power equal to approximately .15% of the discharged energy is sent back through the device. This has the potential to injure the user if not controlled and “siphoned” off away from the user. To accomplish this a system of capacitors and transformers have been connected between the Lathe and its power source. Not only does this prevent injury to the, but it recharges the batteries allowing for longer use in the field.

Tannhauser Game Rules: The Lathe of heaven

The Lathe will be a system of three tokens.

Token one:

The Lathe of Heaven: Type Automatic Weapon, Directed Energy Weapon: Make a normal combat and shock roll for the primary target, and lowest level combat and shock roll for each adjacent character; friend or foe. The primary target receives two automatic wounds, and each adjacent target receives one automatic wound. If the attacker rolls a natural 10 on a combat roll and the target does not counter with a natural 10 on a shock roll then any electrical devices carried by that character are discarded. (I.e. Nighteyes, Flashguns, BG-42, Tesla devices, etc.)

Token two:

The Recoil Buffer System: while carrying this token the recoil effect of the Lathe is canceled. If this token is lost, stolen, or dropped. The user of the Lathe receives one wound each time the Lathe is used.

Token three:

Battery Pack: this token is required to use the Lathe, if it’s lost, stolen, or dropped the Lathe cannot be used.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Here's a draft of a scenario I'm working on for the release of Tannhauser, Daedalus.

Title: Operation “Necronomicon”

Incorporation: 10/15/09

Author: Miah999

Factions:

Union only (this could be played by other factions alone, but the fluff is all written from a Union point of view)

Briefing:

Professor Knowby discovered an ancient book in the ruins of a castle in Scotland. The book was soon reviled to be the dread Necronomicon, The Book of the Dead. Knowby returned to Canada to continue his research in a more secluded location. Knowby had been filing regular reports from his cabin, with his university. However his reports ceased about two weeks ago.

The Union suspects Reich involvement, the Necronmicon would be invaluable to Heizinger’s occult plans, but what the Union doesn’t know is the Reich’s intelligence services dropped the ball and have no idea of Knowby’s research.

When Major MacNeil’s assault team arrived they found the cabin abandoned, and no sign of Knowby; the only sign he was ever there was the Necronomicon and a tape recorder containing a recording of the Professors notes and translations… Then the sun set. MacNeil’s team came under demonic attack, quickly several members of the assault team were killed. The remaining members retreated into the cabin…

Game Board:

The Outpost of Gévaudan

Necessary Material:

Tannhauser Board Game

Daedelus Expansion

Coustom token set

Game Setup:

Select three Union survivors two heroes and one trooper, place them in circles indicated below. Give the Necronomicon token to one of your heroes, and the tape recorder token to the other. Place the Chainsaw/ Crate token and Trench Gun/ Crate token on the action spaces. Place the Four Demonic entity tokens on circles indicated below.

Difficulty:
See game variations below.

Player Objectives:
The Union survivors must survive the night, and not loose either the book or the tape recorder.

The Demonic Entities must return the Necronomicon to the U-World dimension they inhabit.

Special Rules:

The book and tape recorder follow “capture the flag rules” and are dropped if a Union character is wounded.

The Barricade Tokens:

A Union character may spend his action phase building a barricade on any of the circles indicated below. No character may pas through a barricade and an action is requiered to remove it; both demons and Union characters can remove barricades.

The Chainsaw:

Type: Hand to Hand Weapon.

The chainsaw is a nasty weapon, and kills the Demonic Entities instantly so long as the attacker wounds it.

The Trench Gun:

Type: Close Combat Weapon.

If at least one success is scored on the Combat Roll, the target may be knocked back by the Trench Gun, whatever the result of the Shock Roll. If the target is within a number of spaces of the attacker equal to the attacker's lowest Combat Value, the attacker may move the target to an adjacent free circle (but not closer to the attacker). If no such space is available, the target suffers one Automatic Wound.

Demonic Entity Rules:
The Demonic Entities desire the book and since the tape recorder contains the recorded translations of the book it has become an extension of the Necronomicon. Whenever possible the entities must pick up either item and proceed by the shortest route to an objective circle and deposit the item. (Simply stack the item token under the demon carry it.)

The Entities re-spawn at the beginning of every turn; any that were killed are placed back at one of their starting circles. (it’s the demonic players choice as to which circle)

The Demonic Entities share a single reference card, at the beginning of the game the demon player chooses a single pack for all the demons to share. The demons health status is indicated by the demons tokens one side is normal, and the reverse has a blood splatter to indicate a wounded demonic entity.

Stat Grid:

6|6|3|7

7|4|2|3

Demonic Tokens:
Special Item:
Claws: Hand to hand weapon, if the attacker rolls at least one natural 10, then the defender suffers as many wounds as successes without benefit of a Shock Roll.

Combat Pack:

Demon Spew: the Demonic Entity engages the target in a stamina duel, if the entity is successful the target suffers one wound and is immobilized for the remainder of the turn. (the target may still perform an action but may not move)

Mental Pack:

Demonic Corruption: the Entity engages the target in a mental duel, if successful the target is corrupted by the demon and becomes a minion of the U-Worlds. The target is now under the control of the demon player, he may move his full movement value, he may perform actions, but may not use any tokens in his equipment slots. Also he may not use any skills including hand to hand combat skill. He may only attack hand to hand, using his lowest combat value.

Victory/End of Game Conditions:
The game ends after 10 turns, or if the Entities kill all the survivors.
The Union player scores a minor victory if the survive all 10 turns.
The Union scores a major victory if they have both the book and the tape recorder at the end of all ten turns.

Victory Points:

The Union Player has 12 victory points and will not earn any more during the game.

Game Variations:

For a longer game:

The Night and Day Variation:

The game begins the same: at night with the same setup. The night last five turns, the Union have only 6 victory points for these five turns. After five turns the sun rises; for one turn it’s the day. During the day the demons are removed from the board, and the Union player has only 3 VP to use. After this turn night returns The demons reappear at their starting positions, and the Union has only 6 VP to use for five turns. The cycle of day and night may be repeated as may times as players decide or until the Union characters are all dead.

Here is the draft of the Demonic Entitiy Reference card.

Here is the first token set: The Barricades are on the left side, then from top to bottom: Tape Recorder, Necronomicon, Chainsaw, and Trench Gun.

The Demonic Entity tokens: in the red box are the demon token backs, in the black box are the Claws, Demon Spew, and Domonic Corruption tokens. The remaining Tokens are the Demonic Entity fronts.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

I've had an idea, since the economy sucks, we should use the minis we already have. So, I've done a version of Poor Richards that uses Commando Delta as his basis. I'm reusing his mini, character board and some of his tokens. I going to provide a little overlay card with his revised skill set later.

Now here is how I think this should work. Think of Richards as a "enhanced troop." He has the same 3 hit points as a troop, he isn't much more powerful, and and If he is killed he is treated just as if he were a Commando Delta. (i.e. if he dies and you have reinforcements still available, then he is replaced by a Commando Delta, and all his special skills, tokens, etc are discarded)

Here is the second draft text:

Meet PFC John “Poor” Richards, a 71 Lima in army speak, but to you civilians he’s a secretary. Personal assistant to Major General Edison, and his “good luck charm.” He saved the general from a sniper’s bullet by tripping and knocking the general on his ass. He subsequently saved the day again, by taking a wrong turn and avoiding a waiting ambush. While he’s not the best soldier, he’s good at what he does. And has eared the general’s respect, and two commendations.

Skills:

Dexterity, he can type 100 word a minute.Engineering, he reads tech manuals in his spare time.Mechanics, he grew up in his fathers garage.Command, while not able to command himself, he is a skilled communications tech, and can relay orders by everything from radio to smoke signals.

Stat Grid: will be the same as Commando Delta's

Equipment:

Special item:Typewriter, Type Hand to Hand weapon.The Underwood brand typewriters issued to army personnel are very heavy, and their cases have sharp corners. When defending in hand to hand combat the Typewriter allows Richards to use his highest stamina value, and offers a 2 point bonus to the result of each die.

Combat pack:

S&W 1917: same rules as in the manual.

RA-35b: a long range radio that allows communication with other units in the field. The RA-35b allows the use of several special skill tokens.

“Artillery Barrage” : once per game Richards can use his radio to call in an artillery barrage, the barrage follows grenade rules and can target any space adjacent an objective circle.This token occupies the same slot as the RA-35b, and is discarded if the RA-35b is dropped, traded, stolen, etc. This may not be used in the Crypt, or Labyrinth.First aid kit: same rules as in the manual.

Stamina pack:

S&W 1917: same rules as in the manual.

RA-35b: a long range radio that allows communication with other units in the field. The RA-35b allows the use of several special skill tokens.

“Air Drop” : once per game Richards can use his radio to call for an equipment drop, one piece of unused allied equipment is placed in the space adjacent to an allied entry point. (non tangibles like skills, ranks, and award tokens may not be used.)This token occupies the same slot as the

RA-35b, and is discarded if the RA-35b is dropped, traded, stolen, etc. This may not be used in the Crypt, or Labyrinth.

BA-29c: the extra power provided by this battery, allows Richards to use his Radio twice per game.

Mental pack:

S&W 1917: same rules as in the manual

Army Commendation Medal: 2 bonus points.

Speaks German: a trained translator Richards is fluent in German. Once per game Richards may use his linguistic skill to “fool” one of the Reich troopers (either Schocktruppen or Stosstruppen). The targeted trooper may be moved in any direction up to his full movement value, regardless of weather that trooper has been activated that turn. If the trooper has not been activated, then the Reich player may still perform an action phase but the trooper may not move.

Here are the first draft tokens to use with those the Commando Delta already has.

Tokens in order of left row first: Army Commendation Medal, Speaks German, Air Drop, Artillery Barrage. Right row: First aid kit, BA-29c, RA-35b, Typewriter.